ORLANDO, Fla. – A pilot study is underway across the country and here in South Florida looking into possible changes to blood donor eligibility for men who have sex with men.
Florida-based OneBlood is taking part in the Advance Study funded by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Current FDA policy requires that men who have sex with men wait three months between blood donations.
That timeline could be expedited if the study finds a risk assessment questionnaire is a safe screening tool.
“The Advance Study really is significant because it could potentially change the eligibility criteria for gay and bisexual men to be able to donate and it’s really groundbreaking because it’s the first time a study is being done that could mean gay and bisexual men who present to donate would be assessed based on their own individual risk assessment for HIV and not when their last sexual contact with another man occurred,” said Susan Forbes with OneBlood.
All blood donations are screened for any transmissible diseases.
OneBlood is working with community outreach centers in South and Central Florida to recruit participants for the study.
For more information go to: advancestudy.org